Decimated. You keep using that word. It does not mean what you think it means.

[Mochudubh]

I know Trump's an idiot and there are far more serious concerns in the world at the moment but this had me shouting at the telly.

We've beaten and completely decimated Iran. They are decimated, both militarily and economically and in every other way.”

So Iran is 90% sound then. Idiot.

Yes!

It's because he's an illiterate, ignorant buffoon.

Surely this is an example where modern usage has added a secondary meaning (or perhaps more accurately, has all but replaced the original, very niche meaning). In that sense it was being used correctly.

Decimate means to destroy or greatly reduce the effectiveness of an system or organisation, according ot the Collins English dictionary. Is that not what Trump meant? What did he mean?

I get that meanings have changed over the years but it did originally (and to my mind still does) mean one in ten.

This is Pedant's Corner, not AIBU.

It's a hill I'm prepared to die on.

What word is he trying to use?! I can't believe this lump of shite has the audacity to call women and poc 'low IQ'.?!

He's literally one of the thickest people who ever lived.

Clue is in the start of the word - dec, related to 10. The original usage was to reduce something in number by 1 in 10.

Pedants’ corner, as more than one pedant!

Of course it has. This image is often relevant to posts in here. I usually avoid this forum lest I become person E.

Well spotted.

Coconut?

I think (to be pedantic!) that once the dictionaries have been changed to reflect the more common, modern usage, the time for objecting to it has passed!

(That doesn’t mean you can’t continue to feel smug that you at least know what the word originally meant!)

We've beaten and completely desiccated Iran. They are desiccated, both militarily and economically and in every other way.”

That works.

I agree, to a degree.

🤣🤣 words I never used with their original meaning can change, but not others such as 'literally' 🤣🤣

Meta-pedantry! 👏🏼

Never mind

He’s trying to use decimated because it’s used so frequently now in that context. What he’s saying is fine…if you are ok with the meaning of words eventually changing through regular incorrect use to mean something else.

I blame “devastated”. It sounds altogether far too similar to decimated but actually has the meaning needed and people get them mixed up.

Jim Butcher raised the issue about “decimated” in one of the Dresden books and it tickled me.

Well I hate the man and think he’s an idiot but in the U.S. we are taught the modern definition of decimated. If only because rioting Romans don’t pose the same threat they did historically.

The more modern meaning of the word (to widely kill or destroy, rather then to kill one in ten) has been the prevalent meaning for over 350 years, though. The word was imported via France in the 1600’s but cam to have its accepted meaning from around the 1660’s, per the OED.

I think this is a case of trying to be clever, when it’s not really. Sorry.

Trump is still an ignorant, poorly educated tyrant but he is NOT misusing this word, other than overstating and exaggerating the US position, of course.

I'm confused.. are you saying the dictionary is wrong? Or you don't agree that the meaning of words should change?

(I'm no Trump supporter, btw - I think he's a bumbling idiot!)

I've never heard decimated used in any other way. I'm quite happy to keep using it the way Trump uses it and I hope he does decimate the regime. (Decimate, not 10% of them)

I thought decimated meant only 1 in 10 are left. So if you start with 100 people and the population is decimated by plague, only 10 are left alive. Not 90.

I think there are too many exceptions to this for it to be worth posting.

It does but usage has shifted. Next we will be finding should of and could of in the dictionary.